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SPACING AND DESIGN OF JOINTS AND OTHER CONSTRUCTION DETAILS IN AUSTRIAN MOTORWAYS /IN GERMAN/

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DESIGN AND SPACING OF JOINTS IN AUSTRIAN MOTORWAYS ARE EXAMINED. CONCRETE MOTORWAY PAVEMENTS USED TO CONSIST OF 10 M, LONG SLABS WITH EXPANSION JOINTS EVERY 30 M, THEN OF 8 M LONG SLABS WITH EXPANSION JOINTS SPACED FROM 80 TO 160 M. NOW, CONTRACTION JOINTS ARE SPACED EVERY 6 M AND EXPANSION JOINTS ARE USED ONLY IN EXCEPTIONAL CASES. CONTRACTION JOINTS ARE MADE WITHOUT LOWER SHUTTERINGS; THE UPPER PARTS OF THE JOINTS ARE SAWN IN HARDENED CONCRETE, THEN SEALED. THE USE OF VIBRATION ON THE UPPER PART OF THE JOINTS IS PROHIBITED. ALL TRANSVERSE JOINTS ARE DOWELLED BY MEANS OF SPECIAL DOWELLING MACHINES. REINFORCEMENT OF THE SLAB WITH STEEL MESH IS ELIMINATED EXCEPT IN A FEW SPECIAL CASES. FLOATING SLABS WHICH WERE USED AS A TRANSITION BETWEEN BRIDGES AND SURFACING ARE NOW REPLACED BY RAPERED LEAN CONCRETE LAYERS. THIS CONSTRUCTION METHOD WAS USED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AUSTRIA IN 1968 ON A 30 KM-LONG SECTION OF THE WESTERN MOTORWAY. ANOTHER STRETCH OF THE SAME LENGTH WAS CONSTRUCTED BY THIS METHOD IN 1969. /LCPC(A)/RRL/